203 Pharmacists Inducted

Hinneh Josephine Atta receiving the John Ocran Award from Sherry Ayittey, for being the overall best candidate in the 2013 Ghana Pharmacy Professional Qualifying Examination.

Newly inducted registered pharmacists have been urged to move away from the trend of medicine supply towards a more inclusive focus on patient care.

The out-going Minister of Health, Sherry Ayittey, who made this call at the induction ceremony of over 203 pharmacists, said the role of the pharmacist has evolved from that of a compounder and supplier of pharmaceutical products to that of a provider of patient care.

She said the task of the pharmacists is to ensure that a patient’s drug therapy is appropriately indicated, the most effective available, the safest possible and convenient for the patient.

‘Pharmacy care is a patient-centered, outcomes oriented pharmacy practice that requires the pharmacists to work in concert with the patient and the patient’s other healthcare providers to promote health,’ she said.

Ms Ayittey also stated that the goal of pharmaceutical care is to optimise the patient’s health-related quality of life, and achieve positive clinical outcomes, within realistic economic expenditures.

The Minister also called on the new pharmacists to uphold the standards of the profession.

She said in a rapidly changing world, it is necessary for pharmacists to be updated with new and improved ways to accommodate the changing needs.

‘There is the need to thus aggressively seek ways to improve upon practice standards in Ghana,’ she noted.

Ms Ayittey also charged the pharmacy council to create sustainable avenues and employ multiple tools for the regulation and continuous professional development of pharmacists in the country.